Deal Helps Foster Healing

Wcf Courier
September 1, 2013

http://wcfcourier.com/news/opinion/editorial/deal-helps-foster-healing/article_b955bf44-10c5-11e3-802d-001a4bcf887a.html

The clergy sex abuse issue had been pretty quiet in Northeast Iowa for several years.

Then attorneys and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque announced a new out-of-court settlement with victims last week.

The archdiocese has paid $5.2 million to 26 victims of clergy sex abuse — the fourth such settlement in nine years, but the first since 2008.

It involves 10 priests in incidents alleged to have occurred from the late 1940s through the 1970s, but include several priests and incidents in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area. None of the accused clergy currently work as priests and most are dead. Archdiocesan officials have said the number of new claims has tapered off significantly in recent years.

Waterloo attorney Chad Swanson of the Dutton law firm worked through the archdiocese over several years to settle the claims.

"We’ve been able to foster a lot of healing for a lot of folks," Swanson said. "I think it’s been a long time coming, particularly with this latest group."

"Archbishop Michael Jackels and Archbishop Emeritus Jerome Hanus apologize to the victims and their families," archdiocesan officials said in a statement. "It is their hope that this settlement will be supportive of them. ... Priests who abused are a disgrace to the vocation and a scandal to the faithful. The vast majority of priests are good and holy servants of God and God’s people."

Survivors also received a personal letter of apology from Hanus prior to his retirement earlier this year and were offered an opportunity to meet with him privately.

"The injuries to this group of survivors cannot be overstated" in terms of "the shame, embarrassment and stigma of the abuse," Swanson said in a statement.

The archdiocese has now paid out more than $17.5 million on 83 claims of clergy sex abuse involving clients represented by the Dutton law firm.

"I’m not sure if it truly represents the end" of abuse claims, Swanson said. "We probably won’t know for several years. There’s been a considerable decline in the number of cases coming to our attention more recently, so I do suspect we’re reaching some sort of point where the story is closing."

Archdiocesan officials have "reached out in a generally positive fashion when the claims have been presented," Swanson said.

Steve Theisen of Hudson, Iowa director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, believes the settlements represent a small minority of the total number of victims, and urged all victims or witnesses of child sex abuse by any individual to come forward.

The archdiocese years ago instituted mandatory sex abuse prevention training for its employees. While Theisen said he and SNAP remain "very skeptical" of those measures, Swanson said, "hopefully, they’ve made the parishes safer for their children."

Like Theisen, we believe that, given the pervasive nature of the abuse, many abuse incidents may never be told.

But we share Swanson’s hope — and indeed, the hope of the archdiocese — that the way is made safe for present and future generations of young people and this tragic story prompts vigilance against the despicable crime of child sexual abuse in all segments of society.

As a line from the Christmas carol "Away In a Manger" says, "Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care."